It is known to process fine-grained synthetic leather made of polyurethane or PVC-coated fabric into shoe upper material. Open-edge processing, however, is impossible due to the danger of fraying at cut edges and because the punching of perforations is not clean.
In the case of synthetic leathers made from impregnated, coated nonwovens the production of fine-grained surfaces is virtually impossible, because in high-stretch areas, especially at the toe cap when it is drawn down in shoemaking, the fine graining is destroyed because the nonwoven texture shows through. The ultra-fine nonwoven fiber materials often used for that reason involve very high production costs.
West German Gebrauchsmuster (DE-GM) No. 87 02 810 describes a piece of artificial leather in which the showing through of the nonwoven fabric is said to be eliminated by needling a knitted or woven fabric into the nonwoven fabric. A disadvantage of this arrangement is that the woven or knitted fabric is damaged by the needling and has to be covered on at least one side with a thin nonwoven fabric layer for the purpose of securely anchoring it.
Even this minimal nonwoven fabric layer again causes the texture of the nonwoven fabric to show through on fine-grained surfaces, especially when the material is shaped.